MANUFACTURE
FOR CONNOISSEURS OF HIGH-END WATCHMAKING AROUND THE WORLD
Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture, founded in 2003 by Konstantin Chaykin, a Russian inventor and watchmaker, is the only luxury watch brand that produces exclusively Russian-made timepieces. Konstantin Chaykin and his manufacture are appreciated by watch connoisseurs around the world for their watchmaking skills. The Konstantin Chaykin brand is recognized by international experts as one of the most creative and original watch brands in the world.
History of the manufacture
The first was the Panda Titan Wristmon – the inaugural model in the “Vostok” collector’s set, which is planned to expand annually. The set will include wristmons Wolf, Monkey, Falcon, and Tiger.
The second premiere was the unique White Tiger Wristmon, existing in a single copy. Its image refers both to rare white tigers in nature and to the White Tiger – the mythological guardian of the West in Chinese astronomy and cosmology.
On 6 September, the third Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo charity auction took place in Geneva in support of École d’Horlogerie de Genève. Among the 19 lots was Konstantin Chaykin’s drawing Autumn, sold for CHF 21,000.
The charity mono-auction “Konstantin Chaykin x Ineichen: A Charity Auction” was held. The prototype of the “Venus” watch was sold for CHF 40,000, and the original sketch of the model fetched CHF 4,200. All proceeds were donated to LILT Milano.
AUDACITY, SKILL AND INGENUITY
The story of the Russian watch brand Konstantin Chaykin began on October 23, 2003, when a young and ambitious inventor from St. Petersburg discovered his passion for the world of mechanical complications and wanted to develop a tourbillon clock, the first timepiece with a tourbillon to be produced in Russia for 175 years.
He began repairing and restoring watches and clocks, mastering all the intricacies of movement manufacture and the methods of producing the parts. He was guided by the desire to create new, unprecedented masterpieces of haute horlogerie. In 2005, Konstantin Chaykin filed his first patent for his Orthodox Easter Computus clock, which automatically calculates and displays the date of Orthodox Easter. By July 2024, Konstantin Chaykin had registered 96 patents and a further 62 utility models, more than any other watchmaker in the watch industry.
KONSTANTIN CHAYKIN’S WORKSHOP HAS GROWN INTO A MANUFACTURE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING ALMOST ALL THE COMPONENTS REQUIRED IN THE ASSEMBLY OF A WATCH.
He owed his worldwide fame to designs and inventions that had never been seen before, such as a clock with an Orthodox Easter date display, a watch with a spherical moonphase – the largest ever created for a wristwatch - a watch with a mechanical cinematograph mechanism and a single-hand watch with a switchable time display, to name but a few.
The myth that Russians do not know how to make watches must be destroyed, because it is not only false, but also slanders the glorious history of our state and sullies the names of great people who gave their lives to create the most complicated watches and movements. The idea of giving watches pronounced anthropomorphic features has been with me for a long time. I believe that a watch is not just a mechanism, but a piece of contemporary art, a real objet d’art that should evoke strong emotions.
This applies to every one of my timepieces. For example, the Lunokhod watch is unlike any other wristwatch in the world, the Cinema watch has a unique mechanical cinematograph mechanism that creates a moving image, and the Carpe Diem watch is equipped with a complication that is an allegorical interpretation of the passage of time.
These watches are complex and artistic and at the same time philosophical. From an artistic point of view, the Joker watch seems to be the logical continuation of this theme. I wanted to design a watch that creates a connection with its owner and immediately evokes emotions.
THE PRODUCTION VOLUME OF THE KONSTANTIN CHAYKIN MANUFACTURE IS 200–250 PIECES PER YEAR. THE COMPLETION OF AN EXCLUSIVE CUSTOM-MADE WATCH TAKES BETWEEN 8 MONTHS AND SEVERAL YEARS. WE WORK ON EACH PIECE LIKE AN ARTIST ON A PAINTING, WHICH IS WHY EACH WATCH IS UNIQUE.
THE COMPLETE REJECTION OF ANONYMOUS MASS PRODUCTION
Over the years Konstantin Chaykin has gathered a team of professionals who share his passion for perfection and beauty in the art of fine watchmaking. That’s how the first manufacture of haute horlogerie in modern Russia was born.
Today under Chaykin’s leadership there is a well-coordinated team of just over 10 people. Together they develop the latest watch masterpieces, reviving the classic traditions of watchmaking based on the values of master craftsmen.
THE WORLD OF TIME
The Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture is located in a unique historical part of Moscow, near the picturesque Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve. Such a place has great significance for us, as the bells of the clock tower ring out the time here every hour. Kolomenskoye is home to the only exhibition in Russia dedicated to clockworks from the 16th to 19th centuries.
Among the unique pieces are the oldest surviving handmade clockwork by Russian craftsman Semyon Chasovik, which he made for the Solovetsky Monastery in 1539, and a clockwork with anchor escapement from the Pafnutyev Borovsky Monastery, which was made by Rezantsov.
A visit to the Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture is a journey into the world of time. The modern two-storey building houses production departments, engineers and design teams, a caliber design and development department, and an assembly and testing workshop. The first floor houses the latest computer-controlled CNC machines on which all parts are manufactured.
On the second floor is a workshop where the movements are assembled before being inserted into the case. The finished watches are then subjected to quality control. As all departments are under one roof, specialists from different areas can easily work together and share their skills. This also contributes to the unique artistic atmosphere of the manufacture.